How can small businesses benefit from local SEO?

SEO is the art of driving more traffic to your web page by working to increase rankings in search results; there are lots of ways to accomplish this, but perhaps the most effective is simply to create content that is both interesting and relevant to the service or product that you provide.

It's no use coming up in the wrong search results though, and if you're a small business then the chances are that the customers you need to target are those in your immediate geographical area.

Local Search is Your Answer

Local SEO optimises the content on your web pages to increase the likelihood of them appearing to consumers in the specific local section of a search engine's search results page. 

By employing local SEO techniques you can make sure that your website is one of the first ones potential customers see, hopefully driving customers to your website, and ultimately to any brick-and-mortar presence that your small business might have. 

Increasingly, potential customers use local geographic keywords in their search terms to narrow down the results thrown up. Not only that, but the search engines themselves - Google included - prioritise local results over others for users. More of them appear in each search than have in the past, pushing traditional results down and increasing the importance of making it into that section for a business.

Local listings are also great for catching potential customers searching on their phones while they're out and about, as well as people using map apps - and research shows that consumers are more likely to trust (and therefore use) results in the local section of their search results.

One of the most effective SEO tips to help you increase rankings is to optimise your page titles. These are something that many search engine algorithms rely on heavily in order to return results, so by ensuring it's SEO optimised you can give your business a boost. 

Make sure the most important keywords come at the beginning of any title and add the name of the town or city where your business is based. For example, if the business you are promoting repairs computers in Lincoln, a good title would be "Computer screen repair in Thornbury" or "Laptop repair Bristol".

Another quick and easy piece of local SEO advice is to add an address to each page of your website; just by adding a 'contact us' section including your business' address to the header or footer of each page you can provide more data to a search engine about where you're based geographically. It's also a handy feature to have anyway for interested potential customers!

Finally, try to get your website listed on other local websites; business listings are an excellent place to start, and your local chamber of commerce website is often an easy win. Guest blogging on other local websites in return for a link to your site can also help to cement yourself in search engines' local listings.

If you need help getting your website seen by potential local customers then give Superb Digital a visit and we can open up a whole new market for you.

Or if you're the sort who likes to try things out for yourself, check out our Tips For Starting Your SEO Journey.